The present invention concerns a cogged component, especially a wheel, rack, pinion, spline, or similar structure, intended for the mechanical transmission of force and with a body of a composite reinforced with carbon fibers.
Components of this type in the form of cogwheels are known from the German Patent No. 2,825,191 C2, which describes a wheel composed of several layers, bonded together with a binder, of a fabric woven out of bunches of threads of carbon with the warp at a right angle to the woof and with each layer rotated such that the warp and woof in one layer is at an angle to the warp and woof in the adjacent layer. This cogwheel is characterized in that the threads in the warp and woof are equidistant from each other and in that the warp and woof in the second layer of fabric are at an angle of 45.degree. C. to the warp and woof in the first layer, in that the warp and woof in the second layer are at an angle of 22.5.degree. C. to the warp and woof in the first layer, and in that the warp and woof in the third layer are at an angle of 67.5.degree. C. to the warp and woof in the first layer. The binder can be a liquid thermoplastic, an epoxide for example.
The European Patent No. 0,166,181 B1 describes a wheel for transmitting forces that is molded of synthetic resin reinforced with 3 to 5% carbon fibers and 30 to 35 glass fibers by weight. Nylon is mentioned as a synthetic material.
The German Patent No. 4,003,178 A1 describes a cogwheel with a molded-on cogged section of reinforced and hot-pressed phenolic resin. The reinforcement is a fabric of twisted metharomatic polyamide fibers. The phenol resin is impregnated with epoxide.
The European Patent No. 4,003,178 A1 describes a component with cogs of cast or injection-molded polymer reinforced with fiber fillers. The surface of the component that meshes with another component is provided with a thin, in relation to its overall dimensions, integrated layer of polymer without any fillers. This layer is intended to prevent abrasive wear on the surface.
The German Patent No. 4,315,355 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,850) describes a wheel segment fastened to a disk and intended for driving articulated vehicle tracks, conveyor belts, and similar mechanisms. Either the overall segment, its cogs, or parts of the cogs, are of hard metal, fiber-reinforced composite, or ceramic-ceramic composites, engineered ceramics, or high-performance ceramics, preferably of wear-resistant sintered-iron based materials with a special, preferably wear-reducing, protective layer and a starting powder of ferro-chromium and iron as matrix materials and boron carbide as a mechanically resistant phase, or of zirconium oxides, or based on such non-oxide ceramics as silicon nitride for example, with less than 15% sintering material added by weight.